Firecracker Art with Ben Hvar

Artist Otok Ben-Hvar, MFA is a multi-faceted world-renowned performance artist and fine artist who has created a unique art medium by painting with firecrackers, gun powder, fuses and propellants. His distinctive medium is known as Firecracker Art. Legally deaf, Ben uses vibrant paints and certain assembled explosives to create one-of-a-kind paintings that represent unique interpretations of specific stars which he views through telescopes. The vast range of pyrotechnics Ben uses to fire off the bombastic explosions all combine to create the distinctive volcanic animation of a single star. In patriotic celebration Ben creates exciting artwork that visually embodies the spirit of freedom and independence every American enjoys.

Also on display…​David Taylor Digital Fireworks PhotographyMy youthful perception of fireworks has changed since experiencing aMad Minute. This military command is carried out where an intruding threat is perceived. Every soldier in the immediate area is ordered to start firing rifles, pistols, grenade launchers, mortars, rockets, any kind of weapon, as much as you can for one minute. Flares light up the area leaving a shower of sparks trailing from them. A bright ball of burning magnesium floats down to earth and a parachute of light turn the pitch black of night into day. Overhead, thousands of tracers and thunderous noise of these various firing weapons, create an amazing visual umbrella of lines of color bursting with bright flashes. But I would soon realize that even this umbrella has holes in it, and the munitions eventually drop through the holes causing chaos, turmoil, injury and even death to those of us on the ground.

This photographic display, known to the general public as fireworks, is a personal journey and remembrance of a Mad Minute

Purchase the Mad Minute CD by contacting Dave Taylor at imagesbydavidtaylor@juno.com or www.datadave.zenfolio.com

Performance ByAmerican Troubadour Bill Schustik​In the spirit of the Artist's work, American Troubadour Bill Schustik will perform songs and stories of the American Revolution. Schustik uses broadsides, folk songs, letters, and folk tales to weave a captivating tapestry of our founding fathers as they saw themselves. It's all good fun, yet one is left with the feeling that something very special happened back there in "the Days of '76".www.billschustik.com